ESCONDIDO: Nobel laureate shares story of 1950s brain research

ESCONDIDO -- Some science students from three Escondido high
schools got a history lesson on their favorite subject Monday when
1977 Nobel laureate Dr. Roger Guillemin spoke about his
ground-breaking research from the 1950s.

"In many ways, what I'm going to talk to you about is archeology
of what you are doing today," said Guillemin, 85, a professor at
the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Guillemin, a native of France, earned the Nobel while working in
the United States for discoveries that laid the foundation for
brain hormone research, leading to discoveries of an entire new
class of substances that regulate growth, development, reproduction
and responses to stress. His discoveries also advanced the study
and treatment of a variety of diseases and disorders, including
thyroid diseases, infertility, diabetes and several types of
tumors.

Speaking in the Performing Arts Center at Escondido High School
to invited students from Orange Glen and Escondido high schools,
Guillemin described how he and a team of scientists studied the
brain and followed their hunches in the 1950s.

Guillemin said researchers knew the brain somehow was involved
in controlling the pituitary gland, but it took several years to
prove that a small part of the brain called the hypothalamus was
responsible.

English scientists in 1956 discovered tiny vessels between the
hypothalamus and pituitary gland that could carry an unknown
molecule, and Guillemin began investigating what that molecule
could be. He discovered that he could acquire only a tiny amount to
study. To extract just one milligram of the substance, Guillemin
said his team had to work with 50 tons of sheep brain fragments
from 15 million sheep.

Some students, who were eating lasagna at the lunchtime talk,
grumbled a bit as he told the anecdote.

Guillemin discovered that the hypothalamus secretes a
neurohormone called somatostatins, which he believed would
stimulate the growth hormone.

"We took a test subject that wasn't a baboon," he said about
testing the theory. "I think it was me."

Injecting himself with the molecule, Guillemin said he
discovered his blood sugar dropped. His hypothesis wasw wrong --
the molecular inhibited growth rather than stimulate it -- but
Guillemin said the finding led to new revelations.

"It pays to be wrong, as long as you're honest," he said.

The discovery led to advancements in fields as far ranging as
dwarfism and precocious puberty. Some years later, Guillemin said
he was surprised when he was one of 10 scientists invited to China,
and only after his arrival there did he learn that his research had
revolutionized the country's fish-farming industry.

After his talk, students said they appreciated the chance to
hear firsthand about a groundbreaking discovery.

"They've seen the field develop, and it wasn't much in the
'50s," said Escondido High School senior Chris Coates. "It's nice
to hear the perspective from someone who's seen the
development."

Escondido High senior Rosie Henson said she was interested to
hear how discoveries in labs can have such far-reaching
effects.

"I thought it was interesting to hear how it affected the global
community, and not just here in San Diego," she said.

Michelle Gurlin, an Escondido High sophomore, said that she was
particularly interested in Guillemin's talk because she has
diabetes. She said she wanted to know more about how somatostatins
might be used to treat it.

"It's like a once-in-a-lifetime experience," she said about
listening to Guillemin. "And he seems like a really nice guy. I'd
like him to be, like, my grandfather."

Guillemin also took questions from students after his talk, and
he used the opportunity to encourage them to pursue the science.
After a student asked about the production of endorphins, which
Guillemin was the first to isolate, the laureate said there still
is much that is unknown about its production in the brain.

"Maybe you will find the answer," he told the student.

Guillemin was invited to the school by Principal Sue Emerson, a
former biology teacher, through the "Lunch with a Laureate" program
that is part of the countywide Science Festival that began Feb. 28
and culminates with events in Balboa Park on Saturday.